I’m a lucky guy. Somewhere along the way I fell in love with the natural world, in such a way that it helps me to fix any broken parts that may exist. This seems an extraordinarily manageable (and inexpensive) way to cure what ails me, and so I find myself wondering about the non-man-made world often.

Typically I’m running in these places, but this past week I’ve been joined by the other loves of my life…my other healers. And so we’ve purposefully set out to climb mountains just recently, and I wanted to take a moment to share what we found, that perhaps these images might help you too. Or inspire you to find your own healthy places.

Mount Evans

At 14,264 feet, Mt. Evans is one of the nearly 60 14ers in Colorado. A bit south of Idaho Springs, it’s well within range of Denver and, therefore, quite accessible. It was only my 2nd 14er to date, and in comparison to Longs Peak, the ascent was much easier since you can drive most of the way (in fact, the road that leads to the top is the highest paved road in North America).

But gaining 9,000 feet in elevation in the span of an hour comes with challenges, and we were all feeling a bit off for the last thousand feet or so. It takes time for the body to acclimate, but once we were there for a few mins and had a chance to refuel the bodies, we were feeling fine and ready to hike the final half mile or so to the peak. Here are a few of the things we found (clicking on any of them will take you to my Flickr account, and more pics)…

Peak To Peak

A Ski Chute, Even in June

Highest Paved Road in North America

The Tippy Top

Mountain Man

Our Host

King of the Mountain

Echo Lake, on the way back down

Devil’s Head Lookout Station

Well it’s no 14er, but an amazing hike nonetheless, as is the view from this last manned lookout station in Colorado. The hike is about a mile and a half from trail head to the station, and in that distance the elevation gain is almost a full 1,000 feet, finishing at 9,748 feet. Because it’s still well below tree line (unlike Mt. Evans), the trail takes you through beautiful woods full of aspen trees and pines. The rock outcroppings along the way are amazing.

The first to welcome us to the trail

Going up...

Rubble

Hank & his lady

My main men

There we are

A little bit of everything

Believe it or not

Through these walls

Where the lookout dude lives

Last Steps

Tower on the rocks

Pikes Peak in the distance

(Verti)Going down

Lovely layers

Familiar faces

One of my faves

My Friends

Finishing touches

There are more pictures, and bigger sizes, on my Flickr account page, so feel free to click on over and have a look. Or better yet, go climb your own mountain.